Sony confirms IFA 2016 event on September 1

Sony has confirmed that the company will be attending this year's IFA event in Berlin and will be holding a press conference on September 1. The trade show will begin September 2 and run through September 7.

While there's no word on what products the Japanese company will showcase at the event, on the mobile front, we're expecting the SD820-powered Xperia F8331 to be made official at least.

If you remember, we brought you an exclusive first look of the handset, which is said to be the successor to the Xperia X Performance. It was also the subject of a recent image leak.

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The Mi Notebook Air is a MacBook competitor that won't leave you wanting

After the Xiaomi Redmi Pro, the Chinese OEM threw another device our way - the Mi Notebook Air. To be completely honest, the laptop announcement was somewhat expected as well.

It comes in two sizes - 13.3-inch and 12.5-inch. Both feature metal shells, 1080p displays and slim glass-covered bezels. The former actually looks closer to the MacBook Pro series. It is just 14.8mm thick and weighs 1.28kg, while still managing to fit an Intel Core i5-6200U inside, along with 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 256GB of PCIe SSD storage. Xiaomi has even left a free SATA slot for some extra storage, provided that you allow the OEM to install it for you, as the laptop is not user-servicable.

The 13.3-inch model also has a dedicated 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU. It is not exactly a gamer's dream, but sure is better than relying on integrated graphics alone. The device is powered by a 40W battery pack, which should last up to 9.5 hours and can be quick charged with the bundled USB Type-C charger from zero to 50% in 30 minutes.

And if you tend to put an emphasis on lightness and portability instead of performance, then the 12.5-inch model is probably a better suited option for you. It brings the total weight down to only 1.07kg, which does sadly come at a cost. The processor is bumped down to an Intel Core m3, RAM is set at 4GB and there is a 128GB SATA SSD by default, although Xiomi says even the smaller one has a free PCIe slot, that it can fill with extra storage on request.

The dedicated GPU is gone as well and there is a slight reduction in ports. Instead of 2 USB 3.0 ones, like on the bigger model, you only get one, but the HDMI port is still present. With all that hardware shed, the manufacturer also claims battery life should be around two hours longer.

Probably the best part about the the new Mi Notebook Air models is their price, especially when compared to their obvious Apple counterparts. The 13.3-inch one will set you back CNY 4999 or about $750, while its smaller sibling starts at CNY 3,499 or $520. This is about has as much as the Apple MacBook, but as with all Xiaomi products, it is worth noting that availability is still a big issue and prices tend to go up outside of China. Even sp, the Mi Notebook Air looks like a solid entry in the growing ultralight Windows laptop market, provided you can get your hands on one.

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Redmi Pro goes official with Helio X25 SoC, dual camera setup

As scheduled, Xiaomi has unveiled the Redmi Pro smartphone. The device is powered by Mediatek's deca-core Helio X25 chipset with Mali-T880 GPU, and sports a 5.5-inch FullHD OLED display. Xiaomi says the Redmi Pro is the company's "most powerful Redmi ever."

RAM options include 3GB and 4GB, while internal memory options include 64GB and 128GB. The phone packs in a large 4,050mAh battery.

The Redmi Pro features a rear dual camera setup - consisting of a 13MP main unit and a 5MP depth sensor - which the company claims lets you produce DSLR-quality bokeh effects. There's also a 5MP front shooter.

Measuring 151.5 x 76.2 x 8.15mm and weighing in at 174g, the phone offers a front fingerprint sensor as well as USB-C connectivity. Support for dual-SIM and VoLTE is also there.

The Xiaomi Redmi Pro starts at RMB 1,499 (around $225), but for that amount you'll get a variant with Helio X20 SoC, 3GB RAM, and 32GB storage. The version with Helio X25 chipset, 3GB RAM, and 64GB storage costs RMB 1,699 (around $255), while the top model with Helio X25, 4GB RAM, and 128GB memory will set you back RMB 1,999 (around $300). Color options include Gold, Silver, and Dark Grey.

The device will be available for purchase in China starting August 8.

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Soft Gold OnePlus 3 is now available for purchase in US

As scheduled, the OnePlus 3 in Soft Gold color option is now available for purchase in the United States. The model carries a price tag of $399, which is same as what the Graphite version costs.

Aside from the color difference, the Soft Gold variant is identical to the Graphite one, meaning it's also powered by Snapdragon 820 SoC, sports 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and features 16MP/8MP camera combo.

Other regions, including Europe, Hong Kong, and Canada will get the Soft Gold OnePlus 3 on August 1.

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Huawei released H1 2016 results, sees fast growth in emerging and European markets

There is no doubt that Huawei has seen growth in markets around the world. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer has released its first-half of 2016 results and reports that the company has seen drastic growth in the European “high-end” market and other emerging markets in areas of Northern Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America.

Huawei is happy to announce that it is currently seeing an increase in revenue of 41% over last year. Smartphones shipped has increased 25% from last year and stood at 60.56 million units. The IDC likewise reported that the global smartphone shipments in the first half of the year has increased 3.1%, suggesting that Huawei’s growth “has significantly outperformed the market”.

The report goes on to mention how several of Huawei’s flagship devices like the Mate 8, Huawei P9, or the Honor V8 have sold more devices than their predecessors in the same period of last year. The Mate 8 sold 65% more than the Ascend Mate 7, 120% more P9 devices were sold than P8 devices last year.

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CyanogenMod 13 for OnePlus 3 now official, nightlies available

Great news for you flashaholic owners of the OnePlus 3. CyanogenMod 13 is now officially available for the OnePlus 3 and nightlies are now up for you to download and flash. Interestingly, CyanogenMod was the first provider of software for the OnePlus One. Shortly after that, CyanogenMod and OnePlus parted ways, forcing OnePlus to develop its own ‘Oxygen OS’.

CyanogenMod 13 is an alternative OS firmware that can replace the factory firmware on your smartphone. If you’d like to install the OS, you’ll need to have your bootloader unlocked, and you need to have flashed an alternative recovery in order to install. If you have no idea what you’ve just read and would like to delve into this process, make sure you read everything very carefully as there is always risk of bricking your phone.

Before flashing, you should also know that there are a couple of problems with the ROM. Because the source codes haven’t been released from OnePlus, Dash Charge capability isn’t present and the OnePlus 3 won’t charge fast (at least for right now). The other issue is the camera’s performance takes a hit in the quality department. Although, CyanogenMod is in the process of releasing its camera app on the Play Store which would help this issue. OnePlus said it will release the binaries needed in order to enable Dash Charge in the ROM.

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32GB Moto X Pure Edition (2015) is just $249.99 until tomorrow

Motorola has already launched its flagship smartphones for this year, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force. However, for now those are only available from Verizon. So if you want a high-end Moto but don't like Big Red, your only option really is to go for last year's Moto X Pure Edition (known internationally as the Moto X Style).

And here's your chance to buy one for a lot less than before. B&H is currently offering the 32GB model for only $249.99. Not only that, but you also get a Bluetooth selfie stick and a 32GB microSD card - both free of charge. The two freebies are apparently a $29.94 value, according to the retailer.

The handset you get will be unlocked of course, and it's compatible with all major US carriers. The only caveat here is that the offer expires on July 27 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time - and that's tomorrow. So you don't have a lot of time to take advantage of this deal, thus acting fast could prove beneficial.

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